PGH Photo Fair says Goodbyes

After ten years, the PGH Photo Fair will be coming to a close.

This event began from a place of pure passion and it has been a thrill to build, shape, and iterate this project over the years. Evan Mirapaul started the Fair in 2012 at the former Ace Hotel in East Liberty, moving then to UnSmoke Systems Artspace in Braddock, and finally landing for five of its seven exhibiting years at the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA), with Casey Droege joining as Co-Director in 2016.  We not only facilitated the sale of much great art, some of which went directly into CMOA’s own collection, but also organized a fantastic Speaker Series with guest artists and curators, which even continued virtually during the first two years of the pandemic.  

We are grateful to all who came along for this ride including our dozens of gallerists, special program guests, staff and volunteers, art collectors, event participants, and fair visitors. Your enthusiasm kept us going and we hope PGH Photo Fair ignited a love for art, collecting, and photography that will continue on. 

Although the Fair itself will be over, the archive of PGH Photo Fair will live under the stewardship of Silver Eye Center for Photography. It will remain accessible as a record of all the significant figures who played a part and the community of arts appreciators that emerged to support this project. 

To the future,

Evan + Casey

PGH Photo Fair 

Introducing...our 2021 Speaker Series!

We’re thrilled to announce our 2021 Speaker Series season! Join us starting May 25th for a series of free virtual talks, given by experts in the field of the contemporary photography market. Registration for our first talk with Cleveland Museum of Art curator Barbara Tannenbaum is now open, visit pghphotofair.com to RSVP and to learn more about this upcoming season.

PGH Photo Fair's 2021 Image Open Call winners

"Untitled" by Rosemary Macuga Thellman

"View from the 31st Street Bridge" by EB Photography PGH

"Westinghouse Atom Smasher" by Hannah Frank

Congratulations to the winners of our annual image open call! This year, we chose three images instead of one to help promote our upcoming season of PGH Photo Fair.

Rosemary Macuga Thellman is based in Beaver, PA and is a practicing visual artist and photographer. You can see more of her work here.

EB Photography PGH is based in Pittsburgh, PA and is a practicing photographer. You can see more of her work here.

Hannah Frank is based in Pittsburgh, PA and is a practicing artist and writer. You can see more of her work here.

We're thrilled to use their photographs to promote our upcoming season. Be sure to check out each of their websites to see the rest of their work!

PGH Photo Fair is Cancelled for 2020

We are saddened to announce the cancellation of this year’s PGH PhotoFair. With the ongoing threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in solidarity with the continued Black Lives Matter efforts occurring across the globe, we felt that hosting an art fair in Pittsburgh this fall would not be in the best interests of our community, our exhibitors, nor our generous hosts at the Carnegie Museum of Art. We are committed to presenting a safe and inclusive event. When we feel we can do that again, we will be thrilled to offer the 8th edition of the fair.

We will still be hosting our free Speaker Series event virtually through Zoom. Our first event with Michael Hawley will be coming up on July 1 at 6:30pm. To find out more information and to sign up for this event, please visit our webpage.  

We are also in the process of organizing other virtual programming efforts in lieu of the fair. We will continue to update you as these efforts progress. If you have suggestions for virtual programming that you feel would be engaging and useful, we would love to hear from you!

Thank you for your continued support. We are looking forward to celebrating contemporary photography with you again. 

News from the Front Pt 1

A wonderful show is in Akron in complement to the Front International Triennial now taking place in NE Ohio is happening at the University of Akron Art Gallery. It features 3 Pittsburgh artists: Vanessa German, Ed Panar, and Ryder Henry. It's well worth the drive.

Even MORE worth the drive is the whole Front Triennial. Check it out before it closes at the end of the month if you haven't been already. More in a future post, but if you plan to go, put Akron on the flight path. Not only is the UofAkron show worth a look, the NYTimes made a point of saying the Front show at the Akron Art Museum was among the best venues of the whole Triennial. 

-Evan Mirapaul